Day 48 of 170: Start spreading the news…

Categorized as: Author: Erik, Fantasy Basketball
Posted on: December 13th, 2010

Don’t look now, but if the New York Knicks keep up the pace they’re currently on – dare I say it? – they might just be headed to the Eastern Conference Playoffs! They’re on fire and are riding the wave of an eight-game winning streak.

The Knicks can attribute their current hot streak to the strong and consistent play of Amar’e Stoudemire. But he can’t take all the credit. Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari and last night’s Line of the Night owner, Wilson Chandler, have all been coming up with some solid games. Does Spike Lee have something to finally, joyfully cheer about? Maybe… just maybe…

Line of the Night: Wilson Chandler (2.53) kicked some Nugget-butt on the way to his 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 threes. At this point, it’s probably better to completely forget about the “Fantasy Fail” we all know as Anthony Randolph and revel in the complete game Chandler’s managed to bring to the table. He, along with Ray Felton have really outperformed their draft value. He’s currently 15th, while Felton’s 6th on GMTR’s Player Rater. I’m sure their owners would join Spike in asking the rest of MSG to “raise the roof!” Word.

Honorable Mentions:

It looks like Landry Fields (2.23) has emerged as the “more consistent one,” between him and Toney Douglas. I told you so. Landry had a Field(s) day against Denver and delivered 18 points, 9 rebounds, 3 threes, and 2 steals. He’s kinda cool. He’s a pretty good rebounder at the two and is also pretty smooth on the FG%.

At this rate, two good Knicks deserve another. We said the Knicks are on fire, right? It’s a lot easier to forget about the doily apostrophe at the end of his name, especially when Amar’e Stoudemire (2.08) goes off for 30 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocks. If he keeps this up and renews his fantasy basketball studliness, the dude can do whatever the heck he wants to do to his name! – As long as I get to read it when I look at my team’s starting lineup. He he.

Just so we don’t get accused of having a New-York-based favoritism, like some small forwards out there who will not be named but play for a team that rhymes with “Muggets;” here’s some good old (well young) George Hill (2.04) who stepped up as the San Antonio Spurs cruised to yet another victory. This time at the expense of the Portland Trail Blazers. Hill logged 22 points, 3 threes, 2 blocks, while going 9-9 from the line.

… and of course there’s your ubiquitous Kobe Bryant (1.88) line with 32 points, 6 assists, 3 threes, 4 steals. Nice, but… yawn! Sorry, but the Lakers are clearly on cruise control at this point. They’re just shuffling who gets to work slightly harder each night. Good job, “Mr. Mamba!”

Since we’re talking some West Coast lovin’ now, how about some love for probably one of the last (in awhile) solid, starter’s lines from Lamar Odom (1.79) who chipped in 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks. He went 9-13 from the field, but we doubt he will get nearly as many touches when Andrew Bynum returns and he grabs a U-Haul and drives back to Benchville.

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Waiver Wire Line of the Night: While this should technically go to Anthony Parker (1.07), I’m going to award this one to Ty Lawson (0.84) who is a solid handcuff for Chauncey Billups owners who are probably complaining about his up-and-down season thus far. Chauncey’s name has been dropped in a couple of trade rumors here and there. If the Nuggs do not get a PG in exchange, expect his protege (Lawson) to receive a huge bump in value. If you’re feeling adventurously speculative, Lawson is an interesting stash for some potentially explosive gain.

Biggest Loser: Personally, I’m tired of seeing poor J.J. Hickson‘s name (-0.86) held on to this section by about a, uh, million rolls of duct tape. So for a change of pace, let’s paste Emeka Okafor‘s (-1.06) name here and see how that’s a squeeze of lemon in his owners’ eyes.  Okafor was just atrocious in New Orleans’ loss to Philly. I didn’t get to see the game, but from the lines of the players on both ends, it must have been one butt-ugly game. Okafor just managed 2 points, 8 rebounds, 0 assists, going 0-5 from the field and 2-6 from the line. Yup, hairy-sweaty-butt-ugly!
On Tap: The Bucks @ Dallas should be an interesting battle of old school (Kidd) and new school (Jennings) point guards. Well that and possibly seeing Dirk school poor, rookie Larry Sanders in the German version of M.C. Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This!” or better yet Peter’s “Can’t Touch Me!”

It would be nice to see Miami’s streak end at the hands (and D) of Chris Paul and Trev Ariza, but that’s just poor sap who’s haunted by the “I’ve decided to take my talents to South Beach…” in me talking. I don’t really care (that much) about which team wins… I just want it to go into like quadruple overtime or something similarly fantasy-explosive. Don’t we all?

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Daily rankings and stats come from the GMTR H2H Player Rater (beta version).

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Tags: Amare Stoudemire, Anthony Parker, Emeka Okafor, George Hill, JJ Hickson, Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Landry Fields, Raymond Felton, Spike Lee, Ty Lawson, Wilson Chandler